The Darkwing Squad
"The Darkwing Squad" is the sixty-seventh episode of Darkwing Duck, and the 54th episode to air on The Disney Afternoon. Synopsis When Darkwing overcomes impossible odds in a training session against S.H.U.S.H.'s best agent, Vladimir Gryzlikoff, J. Gander Hooter becomes impressed with Darkwing's "special brand of genius." He arranges for Darkwing to retrain a select number of S.H.U.S.H. agents to operate more like the caped crimefighter. The four chosen agents are soon molded by Darkwing into the Darkwing Squad: Darkwing Donkey, Darkwing Dog, Darkwing Deer, and Darkwing Dodo. They succeed in another training session, but only through dumb luck as they turn out to be incredibly clumsy. Nevertheless, J. Gander is so impressed that he makes the training of more agents by Darkwing top priority, much to the consternation of Grizzlikof, who resigns from S.H.U.S.H. in disgust on the spot. Unknown to anyone, Steelbeak was watching the training session. Although he is unimpressed with the Darkwing Squad, he decides that there is an opportunity to exploit the now jobless Grizzlikof. Arriving unexpectedly at Grizzlikof's apartment, he manages to persuade the former S.H.U.S.H. agent to join F.O.W.L. by promising to give him the task of eliminating Darkwing Duck. The Fiendish Organization of World Larceny has plans to commit a major robbery by stealing from the St. Canard Aquarium a priceless giant pearl the size of a wrecking ball, and Steelbeak naturally would prefer that Darkwing not interfere. Darkwing meanwhile is learning about himself the hard way as the members of the Darkwing Squad take after their role model a little too much as they take on some of his less appealing personality traits and degenerate into "a bunch of vain, self-centered glory-seekers who are only concerned with promoting themselves!" Darkwing Dodo literally doesn't look where he leaps, on the grounds that "a daring do-gooder never plans," with Darkwing Deer spending her free time trying to decide which smoke color will best set off the blush in her cheeks, and Darkwing Donkey does nothing but pose for promotional snapshots while Darkwing Dog practices how to best flatten ones head with an anvil. Just as Darkwing decides to lay down some strict rules to keep his proteges in line, Steelbeak, masquerading as J. Gander Hooter via a puppet, contacts the Darkwing Squad and tells them to go to the St. Canard Aquarium. When they arrive, they are swiftly captured and set to be fed to a giant octopus while Steelbeak's Eggmen make preparations to swipe the pearl. Back at S.H.U.S.H. Central, Darkwing quickly gets wind of Steelbeak's treachery. Before he can rush off to rescue his comrades however, he is stopped by Grizzlikof, who proceeds to beat the tar out of the heroic duck. But when the camera allowing Steebeak to watch the fight is destroyed during the tussle, Grizzlikof halts his assault and explains he was only pretending to join F.O.W.L. so he could work undercover, and apologizes for beating Darkwing up, citing that the attack was staged for Steelbeak's benefit. The two then proceed to the aquarium, where Darkwing as usual just wants to rush in and start beating up bad guys but Grizzlikof persuades him to do things HIS way. Grizzlikof's way involves going back to pretending he's with F.O.W.L. and entering the aquarium, tossing a tied-up Darkwing into a tank with the aquarium's shark population. While Steelbeak and the Eggmen are busy placing bets on how long Darkwing will last against the sharks, Grizzlikof frees the Darkwing Squad from their bonds, saving them from the ravenous octopus. Donning their old S.H.U.S.H. uniforms, the agents do things the S.H.U.S.H. way, carefully planning a method of attack. When they are finished, they easily overcome the preoccupied agents of F.O.W.L. and Steelbeak ends up being squished by the very giant pearl he intended to steal when Grizzlikof pushes it over on top of him. Darkwing meanwhile does get eaten by a shark, but luckily for him, duck feathers tickle and he's sneezed back up by the shark. As Steelbeak and the Eggmen are taken into custody by the former members of the Darkwing Squad, J. Gander Hooter arrives and reveals that the whole thing was a setup. He and Grizzlikof had planned it from the beginning, all so they could capture Steelbeak. He then goes on to add that the idea of them actually letting Darkwing train S.H.U.S.H. agents is preposterous, but concludes that he's happy to allow Darkwing to continue working with them in the future. As for Darkwing, he tries to salvage what's left of his ego by saying he knew the whole thing was a setup the whole time. Trivia *In a short scene when the three sharks are chasing Darkwing, they are swimming down a hallway and it should still be in the aquarium. *In the short scene where the 8x10 glossies are on the message board, there are five pictures. The one is the middle looks like a monkey character. *In this episode, there was a scene that hasn't been aired in the televised version of this episode. In the scene, Grizzilkof barges in with Darkwing tied up and threatens to kill him by holding up a gun to his head, but threw him into the water to feed him to the sharks. Because of that, the barging in and the gun to the head part was removed in the airing. Gallery darkwingsquadron 087.png darkwingsquadron 104.png